This invention relates to a carton with overlapped base panels and to a blank for forming the carton. More specifically, the invention relates to a wrap-around carton in which the base panels are overlapped and secured together by a single punch lock. Punch locks are well known and comprise a locking tab formed in one of the base panels which is driven through and secured in locking engagement with a receiving aperture defined by hinged tab in the other base panel.
It has been found that in cartons which have a single central punch lock which secure the base panels together two problems are experienced. One problem relates to the vulnerability of the lock to tearing, which sometimes occurs when the base panels are prized out of face contacting relationship with one another, for example, when the carton is stacked on a supermarket shelf, which has a tendency to put a tearing stress on the lock. Another problem encountered is that the base panels tend to pivot or skew relative to one another about the lock which also can cause tearing of the lock, or disengagement of the lock, which then destroys the integrity of the carton so that for packaging and marketing purposes it is completely useless.
The present invention seeks to provide a carton having a base panel arrangement so that the panels are not overlapped in the conventional way, i.e. where one panel end edge completely overlaps the other panel end edge, but rather are overlapped in an ‘over and under’ arrangement.
A known carton and blank of the wrap-around type is disclosed in GB 1 493 811 which includes shaped base panels in which one of the base panels includes a series of three punched locks all disposed along a tongue of the panel and the complementary locking apertures are formed in the opposite base panel adjacent an end edge which is recessed from the rest of that panel.
There is no disclosure of the panels being overlapped in other than the conventional manner and, indeed, if the ‘over and under’ overlapping arrangement envisaged by the present invention were to be adopted then the punch locks could not be brought into register with the complementary locking apertures so that the base panels of the carton could not be locked together.